At 850 dairy cows, Fazenda Fini (or Fini Farm), is considered a big operation by Brazilian standards and there are plans to expand that number to 1,000.

The farm is run by Igor Van den Broek, the son-in-law of the owner Hans Groenwald, who is considered a master breeder of Holsteins in the country.

The farm is located in Castro in Parana State, which is in the south of Brazil, and was established in 1952 by Groenwald.

Milking

The Holstein cows average 36l/day and in total the 850 cows average 30,600l/day at 3.7% butterfat and 3.13% protein.

The somatic cell count averages out at 216,000.

The cows are milked in a 20-bail DeLaval MidiLine parlour twice a day at 6am and 6pm.

Cost of production and milk price

Fini Farm supplies its milk to Castrolanda, the local milk supplier.

The cost of production on the farm at the minute is 1.40 Brazilian Reais (BRL) or 32c/l in euros and the milk price is currently BRL1.60 or 37c/l.

Breeding

The cows and heifers are served with 100% sexed semen.

At six months, heifers are divided into groups in the shed and bedded on wheaten straw. They also graze outside on grass.

The first service takes place at 11 to 12 months and heifers calve down at 23 months.

Cows and heifers are scanned twice, first at 28 days after first service and then again at 60 days.

Cows calve all year, with 60% calving between January and April. The remaining 40% calve in the autumn.

After calving, they are kept indoors or fully confined.

Housed calves on Fini Farm.

Calves

Fresh calves are fed colostrum from a freezer and then put on to cows' milk for four days.

At five days, they are still given fed milk, but introduced to ration and water.

In 2018, 684 cows calved down.

As of 1 September 2018, the average birth weight of the calves was 39.1kg.

At weaning, the weight stood at 117kg and the average daily liveweight gain was 902g.

In 2018, the mortality rate on the farm was 1.54% and 5.5% of calves were stillborn.

Crops and diet

The farm is one of three which sits on 600ha of land.

Oats, wheat, grass, corn and soy are all grown on the farm for feeding.

The grass is specific to the area of Brazil and the farmer described it as similar to bluegrass in Kentucky.

It is a perennial and they get two cuts of silage off it every year.

The wheat and corn are cut for silage, with wheat cut in the winter for higher protein levels and cut after flowering for higher energy levels.

The farm has seven different types of ration, made up of corn silage, grass silage, soybeans, soya hills, cotton seeds and minerals, for cows at different lactation stages.

Read more

Traceability a threat to Brazilian beef in UK market

China best hope for Irish beef